Think that the OLPC's 433 MHz Geode LX 700 CPU is just too wimpy? Well, now you can toughen up it a bit and give it some processor bite by overclocking that mother. A post on OPLC News Hacks forum shows exactly how to do it: it boils down to some simple code to type into the open firmware prompt of an unlocked machine. A little informal testing shows it's easy to boost processor performance by 30%. Exactly what those kids in developing countries need. OK, the computer geek ones. Maybe.

The CPU apparently runs unruffled at speeds of 566MHz, a 30% speed-up. The memory is accessed at 233MHz versus the stock 166MHz, and also seems to run smoothly. Ubuntu even appears more responsive, so the overclocker claims, though significantly he "did not notice if battery life was noticeably affected." We suspect it will be.

But more importantly, we wonder is overclocking the passively-cooled little green machine a good idea? We're not sure: speeding the processor up is certainly going to generate a wad more heat. "Overclock at your own risk." You wouldn't want it to catch fire, would you? [OLPC News]